Natural Restocking of Redwood Cutover Lands

Abstract Redwood forests have contributed greatly to the economic development of the north coast counties of California, and today, after nearly a century of exploitation, are still the most important basic resource. This is particularly true in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, which contain nearly 80 per cent of the remaining virgin redwood stands and supply more than 95 per cent of the current redwood lumber products. The value of lumber produced in these counties equals that of all agricultural products combined. The lumbering industry, in itself the greatest field of employment, also provides raw material for most of the manufacturing in this area. The continued productivity of redwood lands is therefore of great importance to the future of this region. As the supply of virgin timber is reduced, the redwood lumber industry will become increasingly dependent upon the productivity of cutover lands, which now aggregate 500,000 or more acres and are increasing at the rate of 8,000 to 10,000 acres per year. Consequently, a considerable part of the work of the redwood management division of the California Forest and Range Experiment Station has been directed toward study of restocking of these lands. Some of the results of this work are reported in this article.